So you have suddenly slammed the door on the subject of 'Lords and LORD.' Oh well, and I thought I added some info that would have been useful to you.
Now you bring the case of the Shema, front and center and calling the one, cardinal one, numero 1, YHWH or LORD a unity of plurality. That's quite creative and has no place in the Bible.
So like 3 or more grapes attached to the same stem is considered only one bunch of one substance. Quite amusing and not quite what the Hebrew words mean at all.
I give you top marks for creativity and zero for substance (pun intended).
Ticking around with words and expressions in scripture in an attempt to create and insert new meanings and then create novel reinterpretations of scripture, biased toward a triune god, must be a thankless job I imagine. This work has been done years ago without success. I do not why you are so keen to keep retracing the same trails of despair and disappointment, of your spiritual ancestors.
So, no, YHWH is not a unity (out) of (a) plurality.
So yes, it is. "Elohim" is plural. "One" is "echad or a composite unity. Let's look at it's usage:
Ex 26:6, 11-“the fifty gold clasps are used to hold the curtains together so that the tent would be a unit.” (echad).
2 Samuel 2:25—“many soldiers made themselves into one group.” (echad).
Gen 34:16 –“the men of Shechem suggest intermarriage with Jacob's children in order to become one (echad) people.”
Num. 13:23 According to the view of the anti-trinity sect, when the spies went over into the land of Canaan they brought back
one grape (Heb.
eschal echad.) That’s one big grape! Can anyone actually think it was a numerical statement? It means one cluster of grapes. In Ps.133:1, the brethren are to dwell together as
one (in unity). 1 Sam.3:17. They are called
one company. 1 Kings 7:42,
one tribe. 1 Kings 11:13, Israel is called
one nation.
god, plural, is
one in unity (
echad [ekh-awd]). The “SHEMA,” as it is called by the Jewish people, goes like this: “hear (
sh’ma) Israel (
yisrael) the Lord (
Yaweh) our god (
elohaynoo), the Lord (
Yaweh) is
one (
echad).. Deut 6:4.
There are two words for “one” in Biblical Hebrew: “
echad” (composite unity--one made up of parts)
yachiyd (yaw-kheed). The shema is sometimes used by some Jewish people to assert a numerical value for the Godhead to disprove a “Christian” notion of plurality-in-unity. But this verse actually does the opposite. Moses could just as easily used
yachiyd instead, which MIGHT have been of some support to their position. But Moses inspired by God uses “
echad,” which lends itself to the plurality position. Consider some other passages in which “
echad” is used.
A man and a woman who come together in marriage are said to become
one [
echad]
flesh. There are two persons, a man and a woman, coming together in marriage, and the two become
one. Obviously, they do not become an absolute
one, for they retain their separate personages; however, there is definitely a unity there. No one is tempted two develop a doctrine of married couples where the wife is only the manifestation of the husband; we know better. The Godhead is of such a magnitude that it is inconceivable to completely know God, we can only accept what He wants to reveal through progressive revelation passing through the Old Testament and finally through the New Testament.
God called Adam and Eve “Adam,” or man, that is what Adam means. Often in the New Testament, the people were referred to as brothers, which included women. Another example is
Ezra 3:1, where the whole assembly of Israel was as one [echad]. Although it was comprised of numerous individuals, they were all looked upon as one, obviously a united one. Another example is Ezekiel 37:17, where Ezekiel is told to put two sticks together, and they are combined to become
one [
echad] stick. These are clear examples of the usage of the word
echad in the Hebrew text, which is the very same word used in Deuteronomy 6:4, clearly showing that it is speaking of a compound unity, not an absolute one.
Zech 14:9, “And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be--The LORD is one, And His name one (
echad).”
In the New Testament there is a Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word for one. In Mt.19:5, Jesus quotes Gen.2:24 about a husband and wife becoming one flesh; the word used is
hen. Jesus prays that as believers (plural) we will be one (unity)
even as (Gr.
kathos; according as, just as, even as) he and the Father are one. He did not mean our persons would be merged together in some numerical one, it means a unity corresponding to the plurality/unity of the Godhead. The God of the Old Testament is a united one. The God of the New Testament is a united one. This is what God being one means.
Jn.10:30 "I and my Father are (Gr.
esmen, we are) one (Gr.
Hen)," this is not numerical; Jesus is not saying he
is the Father. They are not one person, but in nature they are unified. It actually reads, "
we are one" in Greek the first person plural
esmen means ‘we are.’ Again this is a unity in nature, not a numerical statement.
The word
one in Greek is
Hen and it is a neuter nominative so it refers to one in essence and nature, and kind. That he is deity just as the Father is. He went on to explain he is the Son of God and the Pharisees understood his claim of making himself to be
equal with the Father.
It is the epitome of academic dishonesty to claim there is no evidence for a multiplicity in the Godhead.
